Parental consent and Microsoft child accounts

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Applies to: Microsoft account

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Depending on your region and the service you’re trying to access, a parent or guardian’s permission may be required for a child to create a Microsoft account. This is in accordance with certain regulations that promote child safety and greater visibility and management of data that is stored about your child online.

Helping kids explore technology safely is one of Microsoft’s top goals, so in addition to complying with these important regulations, we offer family settings that include content restrictions, screen time, and activity monitoring through the Microsoft family service that lives on account.microsoft.com/family. It’s where you’ll go to manage your child’s Microsoft account.

Why does Microsoft charge a small fee as part of the consent process for a child account?

Microsoft takes steps to verify that an adult is giving a child permission to use a Microsoft account. One of the commonly used methods that’s approved under regulation is to charge a small nonrefundable fee to a credit card. You can deposit the fee into your Microsoft account or your child’s new Microsoft account, anddon’t worry, the credit cardwill not be added to your child’s account.

Will I be charged for each child I sign up?

No. Once you’ve confirmed that you’re an adult, you can use your Microsoft account to approve additional child accounts at no charge.

I don't have a credit card. How can I verify my age?

Why do I get an error message when I'm trying to provide consent for my child?

Here are some reasons you may not be able to provide consent:

Your child's account is in a different region than yours

To comply with regional regulations around data protection, the child and the adult providing consent need to be in the same regulatory region so we can adhere to consistent rules. You can change your account region by visiting Your info on account.microsoft.com.

Your child's account is in a different Microsoft family than yours

When Microsoft has any indication that the child has already identified a parent or guardian, we prevent other users from granting consent to the account. You can check which accounts are associated with your child’s account by having your child sign in to account.microsoft.com/family.

You may need to sign in with a different Microsoft account

If you’ve used a Microsoft account in the past to manage your child’s account, then you’ll need to use that same account to grant them consent. You can check which accounts have access to your child’s account by having your child sign in to account.microsoft.com/family. You’ll see email addresses listed under the names of each member of their Microsoft family.

Your child already received consent

If your child sent requests to another parent or multiple guardians for consent, someone else may have already provided consent for them. Have your child sign in to account.microsoft.com/family to see which accounts are associated with theirs.

When does my child gain control of their Microsoft account?

As your child gets older, they’ll reach certain ages where regulations require that they can manage certain aspects of their account, including:

Activity and location info and personal data

Between the ages of 13 and 16 years old, depending on the region and local law, kids will gain control of their profile information and the ability to decide who receives activity reporting and location data from their account. Kids of all ages can make Subject Access Requests (SAR) to do things like request the export of all data stored about them by Microsoft.

Xbox Live

Kids are required to have parental consent to access Xbox Live on a console until they reach the age of majority (18 years old in most regions), at which point they will have full control over their account.

Family settings

Most family settings will apply to your child until they reach the age of majority (18 years old in most regions), but that doesn’t include activity reporting or location-sharing services, which kids will start to manage between the ages of 13 and 16 years old.

Can I remove consent for my child's Microsoft account?

Yes. If for any reason you no longer want your child to have a Microsoft account, visit account.microsoft.com/family and sign in with your Microsoft account. Scroll down and select Manage my child’s profile info, find your child, then select Revoke consent for this child’s account.